Therapy 101: Happiness And Its Different Forms

To be able to understand how we can be happy, we need to consider looking at ourselves and realize how we think. Most of the time, our happiness comes from a variety of things that determine our wants and needs. However, happiness is not always limited to specific amounts because the emotional correlation of attaining something might differ in some ways.

I’m always struck by people who seem genuinely content, who focus on what’s good in their lives. — Seth J. Gillihan Ph.D.

Excitement

Happiness always comes from something we want to obtain. It has something to do with the fulfillment of physically having an essential object that we long to have. It can be new clothes, gadgets, food we eat, and the list goes on. In most cases, we determine happiness because of the baseline of our measurable goal. However, the feeling is temporary, and we end up looking for more. It somehow puts us back to our original level of happiness once we realize the value of that piece of thing. So it’s better to say that the pleasure we get from the objects we want is the reaction from the excitement of literally wanting it.

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Fulfillment

As far as emotional correlation is the concern, we tend to look for things that make us feel satisfied. It’s where we put the value of something we want from our surroundings without any social interaction. Some examples would be watching our favorite movies, eating at our favorite restaurants, cleaning the house, getting enough sleep, doing exercise, learning arts, etc. We base our happiness on the things that we do for ourselves that requires less attention and do not affect the other aspects of our lives. It mainly comes from the fulfillment we feel when completing a particular task.

Research has shown that the difference between people who are flourishing and those who aren’t lies in the magnitude of positive emotions they are able to self-generate from everyday pleasant activities (e.g., social interactions, learning, helping others). — Marianna Pogosyan Ph.D.

Satisfaction

Another form of happiness is from the result of what we can get out of our zone. It has something to do with our daily involvement in our environment that our decisions can affect. It is the type of happiness that measures our sense of responsibility to what we can offer our lives that somehow create an impact on our situation. Some examples are finishing work early, attaining good grades, getting a promotion, ending an appointment meeting, and so on. It’s all about the happiness that you get from pushing your limits.

Appreciation

The most common type of happiness we know is the form of emotional attachment from social interaction. Though this is a broad scope, it does not limit us from attaining happiness in different ways. At some point, we tend to be happy just by knowing that others are feeling the same way. The idea that people show their appreciation towards us and allowing us to know that our existence matters to them, it will all come down to a conclusion that our happiness is what other people can give us with or without the assumption of getting it back in return.

What you speak tends to stem from what you think. The words that come out of your mouth are either portraying your current state of mind, or they may end up influencing the way you think. — Jacqueline Pearce, MSEd, LMHC

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Answering a question of “what makes you happy” depends on what’s important in front of you. So if sometimes you think or feel like you can’t find enough reasons to stay focused on your happiness, you can check out its different types and make room for therapy and meditation. It will positively help you understand yourself way better.